Title: Neoclassical Style

Artist: Neoclassical Style

The Neoclassical Style The classical harmony of Greek and Roman art and architecture, rediscovered through excavations at Pompeii and Herculaneum, gradually pervaded European decorative arts in the second half of the 1700s. Architects, designers, and artisans drew upon the wealth of antique motifs that circulated in the form of prints and engravings. Furniture took on the shape of architectural elements and was ornamented with details borrowed from the classical vocabulary, such as laurel-leaf swags, acanthus-leaf scrolls, and egg-shaped finials. By the 1770s this so-called Neoclassical style, originally heavy and monumental in scale, had become refined into a lighter version characterized by delicately scrolling arabesques and floral garlands.